Kevin Feige & James Gunn Committed To More Female Character Merchandise
Representation of female characters has been a hot button issue in fandom for the past few years. [...]
Representation of female characters has been a hot button issue in fandom for the past few years. The "Where's Rey?" controversy surrounding the marketing and merchandising of Star Wars: The Force Awakens but Disney squarely in the crosshairs of concerned audiences. Some felt that Black Widow also didn't get her due in the Avengers toy lines, which put Marvel specifically under the microscope.
"That was very frustrating for us because we see it from the other side," says Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. "When I say we, I mean the filmmakers, because we're presented with the stuff that's being made, and I don't know if there's an absolutely equal sampling, but Black Widow was all over that."
Guardians of the Galaxy also received some criticism for not producing as much Gamora merchandise as it did for the male Guardians, and that's something that Feige says he and director James Gunn are committed to fixing.
"Gamora was all over that stuff," Feige says of the original Guardians of the Galaxy merchandise. "What we don't see is how much of it is in any given store. How easy is one piece of merchandise to find versus another piece of merchandise? So, we see the stuff and we go, "Oh great, these are all our characters, they're all greatly represented. They're all going to be sold.' Then we find out, oh, you can't find this, you can't find that, or there's lunch boxes or a backpack where a certain character is not on it, and I think the outrage was great because that's not going to happen anymore. And that was one of our big things we set out to do, and it was very important to James as well, was putting, as we did in the first film with a number of characters and even more so this time, women at the forefront of the story.
Feige admits though that they only have so much power of merchandising, and that a lot of how these characters are represented comes down to which pieces of merchandise retail outlets chose to order and keep in stock.
"We can't have sway over what a retail store, how many items of what they want to stock on a shelf," Feige explains. "But when toy sets come over, or t-shirt designs come over if they're not represented properly or representative of the film, we're not even saying, 'Is the equality of each gender specific?' We're going, 'Does it represent the movie we're making?' If it doesn't, we send it back until it does."
MORE: Concept Art Shows Star-Lord's Space Pirate Look / James Gunn Releases Another Piece Of The Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 Score / 5 Worlds We Want to Visit in Avengers: Infinity War / Josh Brolin Ready To Transform Into Thanos For Avengers Infinity War / Peter Dinklage's New Hairstyle Hints At Avengers: Infinity War Role / Josh Brolin Ready To Transform Into Thanos For Avengers Infinity War / Who Is Peter Dinklage Playing In Avengers: Infinity War? / Is Peter Dinklage Playing MODOK In Avengers: Infinity War? / Zoe Saldana Confirms Gamora For Avengers: Infinity War / Chris Hemsworth Says He Still Hasn't Seen The Avengers: Infinity War Script / Avengers: Infinity War To Film in Scotland / Avengers: Infinity War Is Casting Extras For Alien Roles / Avengers: Infinity War Sets Production Start Date / Avengers: Infinity War Directors Tease Mysterious New Prop Video
Set to the backdrop of 'Awesome Mixtape #2,' Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 continues the team's adventures as they traverse the outer reaches of the cosmos. The Guardians must fight to keep their newfound family together as they unravel the mysteries of Peter Quill's true parentage. Old foes become new allies and fan-favorite characters from the classic comics will come to our heroes' aid as the Marvel cinematic universe continues to expand.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is written and directed by James Gunn (Slither). The film marks the return of the original Guardians, including Chris Pratt (Jurassic World) as Peter Quill/Star-Lord; Zoe Saldana (Star Trek Into Darkness) as Gamora; Dave Bautista (Spectre) as Drax; Vin Diesel (Furious 7) as the voice of Groot; Bradley Cooper (American Sniper) as the voice of Rocket; Michael Rooker (Jumper) as Yondu; Karen Gillan (The Big Short) as Nebula; and Sean Gunn (Gilmore Girls) as Kraglin. New cast members include Pom Klementieff (Oldboy), Elizabeth Debicki (The Great Gatsby, Everest), Chris Sullivan (The Knick, The Drop) and Kurt Russell (The Hateful Eight, The Thing).
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is scheduled to hit theaters on May 5, 2017.
